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14 unusual facts about County Antrim


1951 Ringway Dakota accident

On 27 March 1951 a Douglas Dakota 3 cargo aircraft registered G-AJVZ operated by Air Transport Charter en route from Ringway Airport, Manchester, England, to Nutts Corner Airport, Antrim, Northern Ireland, crashed shortly after take-off following the failure of the aircraft to gain height.

Antrim RFC

Antrim RFC (Antrim Rugby Football Club) is a rugby club based at Allen Park in Antrim, County Antrim, Northern Ireland.

Antrim, Nova Scotia

It was first settled by the Kerrs, McMichael and McMullin families who came from Antrim in Northern Ireland.

Cape Stolbchaty

Cape Stolbchaty is the cape at east shore of Kunashir Island, and place in the state of Sakhalin, Russia is famous for its columnar basalt formations, which are strikingly similar to the Giant's Causeway in County Antrim in Northern Ireland.

Irish Independence Party

It was boosted in the late 1970s by the defection of a prominent Protestant Larne SDLP councillor, John Turnley, later the party chairman, who was killed in 1980 in Carnlough, County Antrim by an attack claimed by the Ulster Defence Association.

Johnston's Motor Car

My car it has been commandeered, by the rebels at Dunluce?"

Lisburn–Antrim railway line

Speculation remains that the line could one day re-open under plans to operate a Belfast — Lisburn — Antrim — Belfast circular route, with the possibility of a station for Belfast International Airport which is close to the line at Aldergrove.

Loughlynch

Loughlynch or Lough Lynch is a townland in the parish of Billy, County Antrim, Northern Ireland.

Olcán

Olcán (fl. 5th century) is the name of an early Irish saint of the Dál Riata, disciple of St Patrick and founder of Armoy (Irish:Oirthear Maí) in northeast Antrim, Northern Ireland.

Percy Black

Black was born in Beremboke, near Bacchus Marsh, Victoria, the eleventh child of William and Anne (née Longmore), farmers originally from Antrim, Ireland.

SS Lake Champlain

On 30 June 1886, she ran aground on the Antrim coast, but was refloated, sold, and renamed Lismore.

Thomas McDonnell, Snr.

(1788 in County Antrim, Ireland – 13 September 1864 in Onehunga, Auckland) was a timber trader and Additional British Resident in New Zealand.

Thomas Tennison

He married the heiress Dorothy Upton, daughter of Thomas Upton, Member of Parliament for County Antrim, and cousin of the first Baron Templetown.

TSS Caledonian Princess

Built for the North Channel route from Stranraer, Dumfries and Galloway, to Larne, County Antrim, linking the west of Scotland with Northern Ireland, she was the first car ferry on the route.


Alexander McNeill

Born in The Corran, County Antrim, Ireland, the son of Malcolm McNeill, his mother was the sister of Duncan McNeill, 1st Baron Colonsay.

All-Ireland Senior Club Camogie Championship 1973

The championship was organised on the traditional provincial system used in Gaelic Games since the 1880s, with St Patrick’s Creggan, based in Randalstown, County Antrim and Thurles winning the championships of the other two provinces.

Arthur Bell Nicholls

Nicholls was born in Killead, County Antrim, in Ireland to father William Nicholls, a Presbyterian farmer, and mother Margaret Bell, a member of the Anglican Church.

Dixon Park

Dixon Park is a football stadium located in Ballyclare, County Antrim, Northern Ireland.

Earl of Shaftesbury

He was succeeded by his son, the 9th Earl, who was the Lord Mayor of Belfast, Lord Lieutenant of Belfast, County Antrim and Dorset and Lord Steward of the Household.

George Boyle Hanna

Born in Ballymena, County Antrim and educated at Gracehill Academy, Ballymena Academy and Trinity College, Dublin, Hanna was first admitted as a solicitor in 1901, being called to the Bar in 1920, taking silk in 1933.

John Ballance

The eldest son of Samuel Ballance (a farmer of Glenavy, County Antrim, in what is now Northern Ireland) and Mary McNiece, John Ballance was born on 27 March 1839 in Glenavy in County Antrim.

Kilbride Swifts F.C.

Kilbride Swifts Football Club, from Doagh, County Antrim, is an intermediate-level football club that formerly played in the Premier Division of the Ballymena & Provincial Intermediate League in Northern Ireland.

Kinbane Castle

Kinbane Castle (Caislen Ceinn Bán, White Head Castle, Kenbane Castle) is situated in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, on a long, narrow limestone headland projecting into the sea, approximately 5 km from Ballycastle on the road to Ballintoy.

Manus O'Donnell

Supported by Munster and Connacht, and assisted also by English contingents and by the MacDonnells of Antrim, O'Neill took the castle of Ballyshannon, and after devastating a large part of Tyrconnell he encamped at Knockavoe, near Strabane.

McCorkell Line

It is said three brothers named McCorquodale, part of the Clan Gunn, arrived in Ireland after the defeat of Bonnie Prince Charlie following the rebellion in 1745, having escaped in an open boat from the west coast of Scotland and landed on the County Antrim Coast.

Merville Garden Village

Merville Garden Village is a housing estate located at Shore Road, Whitehouse, Newtownabbey, County Antrim, Northern Ireland created by structural and landscape architect Edward Prentice Mawson.

Michael McKimm

McKimm was born in Belfast but lived from the age of seven on the north coast of County Antrim, near the Giant's Causeway and the town of Bushmills.

Musa Qala

In memory of a prior conflict, in 2006, involving the British Royal Irish Regiment, a new Regimental March, composed by Chris Attrill and commissioned by Larne Borough Council, was gifted to the regiment on Saturday 1 November 2008 in Larne, County Antrim, Northern Ireland during an event in which the regiment was presented with the 'Freedom of the Borough'.

Neil 'Smutty' Robinson

An exceptionally talented (and fearless) motorcycle track, circuit and road racer from Ballymena, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, Robinson was killed during a practice session at Oliver's Mount racing circuit, Scarborough, West Yorkshire.

Of One Belief

The Group was established on December 7, 2007 at a general meeting in the Elk Restaurant in Toome, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, which was attended by over 400 people.

Onora O'Neill, Baroness O'Neill of Bengarve

In 1999, she was created a life peer as Baroness O’Neill of Bengarve, of The Braid in the County of Antrim, and in 2007 was elected an Honorary FRS.

Patrick Buckley

Buckley was born in Tullamore, County Offaly, Ireland and is now living at The Oratory, Larne, County Antrim, a house which used to belong to the Catholic Diocese of Down and Connor and which Buckley refused to leave following his suspension from the priesthood in 1986 by the then bishop, Cahal Daly.

Portlandite

It was first described in 1933 for an occurrence at Scawt Hill, Larne, County Antrim, Northern Ireland.

Quinn brothers' killings

Jason, Richard and Mark Quinn were three brothers killed by the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) in a firebomb attack on their home in Ballymoney, County Antrim, Northern Ireland on 12 July 1998, towards the end of the three-decade period known as "The Troubles".

Seán Neeson

Neeson's election represented a notable geographic shift as his three predecessors (Alderdice, John Cushnahan and Oliver Napier) had all had political bases in the strip incorporating the East Belfast and North Down constituencies, whereas Neeson's political base was in County Antrim, to the north of Belfast.

St. Patrick's Hospital

The hospital retains Swiftian touches, with wards named after Stella (Esther Johnson), Vanessa (Esther Vanhomrigh), Henry Grattan, the village of Kilroot (in County Antrim) where Swift worked as Prebend at the church, and Laracor (County Meath) where he also worked as a clergyman.

Susanna Drury

She is chiefly noted for her watercolor drawings of the Giant's Causeway in County Antrim, which brought international attention to the site.

Thomas McCloy

Thomas McCloy (31 August 1927 - 13 January 2014) was born in Lambeg, County Antrim, Northern Ireland) and was an Irish cricketer.

William Davison, 1st Baron Broughshane

Davison was born in Broughshane, County Antrim, the son of Richard Davison and his wife Annie née Patrick.